How to Keep Your Organic Sourdough Starter
HealthySourdough needs the right conditions to thrive, you have to feed it daily (or once a week if refrigerated). As the starter you have received is very old and mature – feeding and looking after it should be easy and killing the starter shouldn’t be an option (unless left in the fridge without feed for a few weeks or for few days outside the fridge without feed).
Feeding Your Starter:When you receive it feed your sourdough starter straight away with a little bit more flour to water ratio. For example, aprox 150g of flour and 110g of water and leave in warm place for at least 12hrs. Keep it in the fridge after that. The measurement ratio can vary depending on how heavy or dense the flour is as all flours retain water in different way. Your starter’s thickness should be like a thick toothpaste. If it is too watery it will not rise (but it will still work fine – add only flour to thicken – no water). How frequently you feed your starter is dependent on how often you wish to bake with it. If you think you’ll be using your starter every couple of days or even more frequently then you should feed it after every time you use it and follow above 12 hrs feeding procedure. That will keep it very active and ready to use out of the fridge. If you will only be baking with it once a week then feed and refresh it before baking (which is basically to feed it and let it work for few hours before you use it with 1 – 2 tablespoons of flour. Saying that it will be still ok to use it once a week straight from the fridge without refreshing. Some recommend refreshing but we in our own kitchen do not refresh it – just feed after using it.
The Right Conditions for Sourdough to grow and bubble: Warm (room temperature) and fresh flour as feed. Please note you will probably require 2 to 3 tablespoons of starter per 400g loaf of bread. As a base I would recommend to store 200 – 300g of starter in your fridge. Simple rule is – if you take out 3 tablespoons of starter – feed it with similar amount of water/flour, leave it in warm place for 12 hrs and put in the fridge. Any flour will be fine (apart from non-gluten flour). Obviously Organic is best due to lack of pesticides and herbicides. We use rye which seem to be the best for feeding.
Fresh Starter for Baking. Most sourdough recipes call for "fresh" sourdough starter. The term fresh refers to sourdough starter where the yeast and bacteria which comprise the starter are in an optimal state of activity and ready to leaven baked goods. If your sourdough starter is normally kept in the refrigerator, you can use it straight from the fridge or feed it and leave in warm place for 12 hrs before taking out what you need for your dough.
The starter you received is very old and mature and doesn’t really need to be prepared before baking.
Sourdough Pancakes Recipe (use it if you have too much starter)
2 cups fresh sourdough starter, 1 egg, 3 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons oil, 3+ tablespoons milk, coconut milk, or water, 1 teaspoon baking soda (optional, makes the pancakes fluffier).Mix together sourdough starter, egg, sugar, oil and baking soda. Use the milk, coconut milk, or water to thin the batter to a pancake batter consistency. (How much you will need depends on the consistency of your sourdough starter.)Heat a griddle to moderate heat. Melt a slice of butter or coconut oil on the griddle. Once the griddle is hot, use 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until golden brown and flip. Cook until golden brown on both sides.
Ingredients: Organic Rye flour, purified water. Storage: We recommend refrigeration
Best Before: Use within 28 days (we recommend to feed once received)